Why Is Everyone Mad At Blake Lively?

It Ends with Ryan Reynolds

Just one week ago, I wrote way too many words about why Ryan Reynolds infuriates me. I wasn’t planning to follow that up with a Blake Lively exposé, but sometimes fate lines everything up for you.

I haven’t read Colleen Hoover’s It Ends with Us, but from the terrible trailers and mediocre marketing, I feel pretty secure in saying that it’s a milquetoast movie about hot people being inconsiderate to one another. I may see it at some point, or not. Who knows? But what I do know is that there has been quite a bit of drama, gossip and yapping surrounding its recent release.

The film, directed by Justin Baldoni and starring Blake Lively, appears to be chockful of drama as none of the stars are publicly talking about the director and Baldoni has been irritated with almost every line of questioning he’s received.

Earlier this week, Baldoni told Entertainment Tonight that he’s passing up the opportunity to work on the sequel, saying “I think Blake Lively’s ready to direct.” That might be a compliment coming from someone else, but the behind-the-scenes chaos hints that this might not be the case.

Multiple sources (via TheInSneider) are now saying that there were competing cuts of the film. Apparently, Lively took over Baldoni’s edit despite his cut having scored higher with audiences. How did Lively get away with this? She has a powerful husband, Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool himself, who “basically took over the movie and buddied up to author Colleen Hoover to see that their cut won.”

The end result is that now “[Justin] Baldoni and Blake [Lively] hate each other,” according to Sneider’s sources, adding that Lively has a massive ego and Hollywood can sometimes tend to reward that.

“It’s wild that the cast would shun Justin and not do press with him. It makes no sense because he’s the only one acting professional,” added a second source.
—World of Reel

This is the good stuff, and of course, Reynolds is involved. Despite Deadpool & Wolverine and It Ends with Us taking over the box office for back-to-back weeks, the buzz on both has been … less than stellar. I don’t have much else to say other than the fact that I called this one years ago.

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One Horror Recommendation

I’ve been on a bit of a horror movie kick for the last 28 years or so, and I want to say that the best one I’ve seen recently isn’t the new Trap or Cuckoo, but Watcher. I remember wanting to see the 2022 release but I somehow missed it and never got around to it. Well, I eventually did, and I’m kicking myself for not seeing in theaters.

The Maika Monroe-starring thriller centers on a new couple moving to a new city and immediately finding out about a serial killer on the loose. Naturally, Monroe’s character starts to suspect that she’s being followed and watched and things go from there. It’s a slow-burn thriller but comes together in the final act when everything starts moving a mile a minute.

Maybe my love for it is boosted by the fact that it’s the only horror movie I’ve seen recently that’s stuck the landing, but I’ll take a good thriller when a good thriller presents itself.

Maika, if you’re reading this, I would never let any of this happen to you.

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Speaking Of Horror

I didn’t love Cuckoo as much as everyone else, and by everyone else, I mean my sister. But it was still a fun little movie with a cool premise, some good scares and a bunch of laughs.

It will probably disappear for me as the movie calendar picks up, but I want to take a moment to give kudos to Dan Stevens, who’s having the time of his life in this one, as a mischievous doctor constantly up to no good. Ever since Legion, a ridiculously good TV show, I always like to see Stevens pop up. He could have a more “normal” straightforward road in Hollywood, but I appreciate that he’ll choose off-kilter characters that bring out the weird in him. I still haven’t seen Abigail, which he stars in, but it’s a ballerina vampire movie, so I’m sure he’s bringing a bizarre flavor.